
SABBATH-SCHOOL LESSON QUARTERLY
9
Notes.
1.
Nehemiah did not consider his commission as governor of
Jerusalem as his greatest authority for building. When ques-
tioned by the Samaritans, he frankly told them that he trusted in
a higher power than earthly kings for help to carry forward the
work.
2.
Some built "over against" their own houses. In this is a
lesson for those who can not leave their homes to labor in the
Lord's work. There is always something to do by their own
homes.
3.
There was but one class mentioned that did not engage
in the work of rebuilding. This was the Nobles of the Tekoites.
All others including the priests, rulers, goldsmiths, apothecaries,
and merchants, entered heartily into the work of building the
wall. This was the first thing to be done, and it was that which
many years before their enemies had accused them of undertaking.
Ezra 4: 12, 13. Under Nehemiah the work was accomplished.
4.
Jerusalem had been laid in ruins, because "they mocked
the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His
prophets, until the wrath of the Lord- arose' against His people,
till there was no remedy. Therefore He brought upon them the
king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword
in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon
young man or maiden, old man
'
or him that stooped for age;
He gave them all into' his hand. And all the vessels of
the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of
the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his
princes, all these he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the
house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt
all the palaces thereof. And them that had escaped from the
sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants
to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:
to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until
the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay
desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil three score and ten years."
2 Chron. 36: 16-21.
The Lord through the prophet Daniel had foretold that "the
street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times."
Dan. 9: 25. Some of the experiences passed through in fulfil-
ment of this prophecy are studied in these lessons.
Now, as in the days of Nehemiah, the true people of the Lord
are entrusted with a, special and an important work. A real city
is not to be rebuilt and a real wall restored, but a spiritual restor-
ation is to be accomplished. The foundation of many generations